In
the five years that SpaceX has been flying re-supply missions to the
ISS (international space station) their cargo has included food,
water, experiments, and items to make repairs. On Friday's scheduled
mission will be the one item that the Dragon has never carried and
that is an entire module. This will be the first expansion module
mission to the Space Station since the shuttle program end in 2011.
As
long as every checks out the mission is schedule to launch from
launch center 40 at Cape Canaveral Airforce Base in Florida at 4:43
pm EDT (1:43 pm PDT). According to United States Airforce weather
forecaster Kathy Winters weather conditions should not be a problem
for either he launch or the attempted landing of the Falcon rocket.
“It’ll
be a great day to launch a rocket,” she told reporters at NASA’s
Kennedy Space Center.
There
will be other supplies including crew supplies and science
experiments but the big ticket item on the mission is the 3,000 pound
(1.400 KG) Bigelow Expansion Activity Module (BEAM). During transport
the BEAM will be compressed to 5.7 ft. (1.7m) long and 7.75 ft.
(2.36m) in diameter. When it is attached to the ISS it will be
inflated over the next 4 months to expand to its full dimensions of
13 ft. (4m) long and 10.5 ft. (3.2m) in diameter.
“This
type of architecture has never been flown before. … We’re not 100
percent sure of its behavior,” Robert Bigelow said today about his
company's collapsible module. “It is a testing station. That is the
whole point here.”
Once
again SpaceX will attempt to land the booster stage of the Falcon
rocket on a drone ship. On past missions when they have attempted
this feat the California-based SpaceX faced setback after setback.
This time with calm weather and several improvements to the rocket
should give them a better chance for success.
For
those wishing to view the event there will be a live
feed beginning at 3:30 pm EDT. As usual on these live NASA feeds
they will not only show the launch but go through details about the
craft, mission, and other pertinent information.
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